Rivigo, An Indian Logistics Startup That Uses Tech To Ensure Driver Safety, Raises $30M Series B

Rivigo, an Indian startup that wants to build a more reliable and safer logistics network, has raised a $30 million Series B led by SAIF Partners. The funding, which includes equity and debt financing, will go toward improving Rivigo’s proprietary hardware platform, which it uses to reduce driver fatigue, find the best traffic routes, and monitor the performance of its trucks.

Launched in 2014, Rivigo (which was previously called TrucksFirst) claims that it can lower transit times for deliveries by 50 to 70 percent. Founder Deepak Garg tells TechCrunch that the company’s goal is to make sure that long-haul road shipping is just as quickly and reliably as shipments by plane.

Companies like Rivigo are staking their prospects on the growth of India’s manufacturing, e-commerce, and retail industries, which expected to boost India’s logistics market at a compounded annual growth rate of 12.17 percent to $302 billion by 2020, according to Research and Markets.

If the Good and Services Tax Bill is eventually passed by the Indian government, it will also help logistics providers like Rivigo by reducing the number of warehouses they have to set up across different regions in order to comply with tax laws.

Rivigo operates its own fleet of trucks and one of the main ways it differentiates from competitors is tracking the amount of time most drivers can stay on the road before they get too tired to operate a vehicle safely. It uses those numbers to create a relay system so drivers can end their shift and hand their truck off without interrupting Rivigo’s 24-hour route operations. Each operator has a smartphone app that automatically clocks them in when they get into a truck and keeps track of their hours and mileage.

“This creates a huge amount of value because drivers love it. They are able to come back to their families,” says Garg. “Clients love it because they get deliveries much faster compared to an environment where truckers have to stop and rest on the highway.”

Rivigo’s tech platform also includes a network of sensors that are used to monitor the temperature of refrigerated shipments, track security and location, and monitor the performance of each vehicle down to its individual parts. Much of the company’s Series B will go toward improving its hardware, since it checks everything from fuel consumption to gearbox components.

“Our sensors can centrally manage or control the vitals of a truck and therefore improve the reliability of our operations,” says Garg. “We believe that it’s better to make sure vitals are in order, as opposed to looking at them after a breakdown.”